Systems and Methods for Reducing Power Consumption in a Satellite Communication Device

1. A method comprising: receiving in a satellite communication device, at least one of a wake-up schedule or a sleep schedule, the at least one of the wake-up schedule or the sleep schedule derived from satellite orbital data comprising a two-line element (TLE) set; storing the at least one of the wake-up schedule or the sleep schedule in a data storage element of the satellite communication device; and utilizing the at least one of the wake-up schedule or the sleep schedule to place one or more components of the satellite communication device in a sleep state to reduce power consumption in the satellite communication device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the wake-up schedule or the sleep schedule is defined on the basis of at least one of extending a battery life of one or more batteries in the satellite communication device or extending a storage period of an electric charge in an electric charge storing element contained in the satellite communication device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the wake-up schedule or the sleep schedule is received in the satellite communication device from a scheduling server that is configured to periodically fetch the satellite orbital data from a dynamically-updated TLE database in a TLE server.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the scheduling server is further configured to use a push schedule to transmit the satellite orbital data to the satellite communication device via a communications satellite.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the push schedule is a periodically recurring schedule.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the periodically recurring schedule is based at least in part on a frequency of change in the dynamically-updated TLE database.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the scheduling server is further configured to execute the push schedule conditional to detecting a change in a current version of the satellite orbital data in comparison to a previous version of the satellite orbital data.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the satellite orbital data comprises data indicative of at least one of a first duration of time when an antenna of the satellite communication device has a line-of-sight visibility with at least one satellite or a second duration of time when the antenna of the satellite communication device loses the line-of-sight visibility with respect to the at least one satellite.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising utilizing the at least one of the wake-up schedule or the sleep schedule to place the one or more components of the satellite communication device in a wake state, the wake state characterized at least in part by an establishment of communication between the satellite communication device and at least one satellite during a first period of time when the satellite communication device has a line-of-sight visibility with respect to the at least one satellite.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the wake state is characterized by a first duration that is defined by using one of a number of seconds or a first number of minutes, and the sleep state is characterized by a second duration that is defined by using one of a second number of minutes or a number of hours.

11. A method comprising: communicatively coupling a scheduling server to a satellite communication device via a communication network; defining a push schedule in the scheduling server; obtaining in the scheduling server, from a two-line element (TLE) server, TLE data that provides orbital information of at least one satellite; using the TLE data to identify one or more time periods when an antenna of the satellite communication device has a line-of-sight visibility with respect to at least one satellite; defining a wake-up schedule for the satellite communication device based on at least one of the one or more time periods; and using the push schedule to transfer the wake-up schedule from the scheduling server to the satellite communication device.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein defining the push schedule in the scheduling server comprises a human operator using at least one of a webpage, a configuration file or a database.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising: defining a sleep schedule for the satellite communication device based on the at least one of the one or more time periods; and transmitting the sleep schedule from the scheduling server to the satellite communication device.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein obtaining the TLE data in the scheduling server is carried out periodically by using at least one of a daily fetch schedule, a twice-daily fetch schedule, or an hourly fetch schedule.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the push schedule is a periodically recurring schedule that is determined at least in part on the at least one of the daily fetch schedule, the twice-daily fetch schedule, or the hourly fetch schedule used for obtaining the TLE data in the scheduling server.

16. A satellite communication device comprising: a receiver configured to receive at least one of a wake-up schedule or a sleep schedule that is derived from satellite orbital data comprising a two-line element (TLE) set; a data storage element configured to store the at least one of the wake-up schedule or the sleep schedule; and a power management system configured to utilize the at least one of the wake-up schedule or the sleep schedule to place one or more components of the satellite communication device in a sleep state to reduce power consumption in the satellite communication device.

17. The satellite communication device of claim 16 , wherein the receiver is configured to receive the at least one of the wake-up schedule or the sleep schedule from a scheduling server that is configured to periodically obtain the satellite orbital data from a dynamically-updated TLE server and to use a push schedule to transmit the at least one of the wake-up schedule or the sleep schedule to the receiver.

18. The satellite communication device of claim 17 , wherein the receiver is configured to receive the at least one of the wake-up schedule or the sleep schedule based on the push schedule of the scheduling server.

19. The satellite communication device of claim 18 , wherein the push schedule is a periodically recurring schedule.

20. The satellite communication device of claim 19 , wherein the periodically recurring schedule is based at least in part on a frequency of change in the dynamically-updated TLE server.